A delightful weekend in Bideford to celebrate our wedding anniversary. We enjoyed being out by the river in the cold sunshine this morning. The dunlin and lapwings made wonderful patterns as their skittishly shot up from the water.
Got home to listen to the 3rd round cup tie and was disappointed the Mighty Hatters were held to a draw. We don’t really want a replay!
A surreal picture from Rosemoor taken yesterday- look carefully and you will see the once dynamic duo celebrating their wedding anniversary. Hence today’s title!
Picture below is where I was bird watching in the afternoon by the estuary. Great views of oystercatchers, redshank, wigeon, dunlin shelduck, curlew, sanderling etc plus a brief rainbow!
I thought today was supposed to be better weather wise! It was ok up till late afternoon and then of course it has rained for several hours again. When I went for a ride I couldn’t believe seeing standing water in fields that normally drain well. The Severn further North from here has flooded around Worcester and where it meets the Avon around Tewkesbury. Hopefully we have a dry spell now.
Next week I am leading again the Wassail at Wick Court. Last year it was fairly anarchic. Apparently I led everyone the wrong way around the tree! This year we might struggle with the sodden ground.
Once more I am developing webbed feet to cope with all this rain- the ground is absolutely saturated! Today there was lots of surface water on the road into Frampton.
When the rain eventually relented I ventured out in search of Bohemian Waxings. Six were spotted in Frampton yesterday. I didn’t see any- plenty of Redwings and Fieldfares. Also another Starling Murmuration– but I think I have posted plenty of pictures of that recently! I took pictures of a distant rainbow – well part of one! Pictures below! Hopefully I might see some waxwings here in Frampton soon- there is a picture of one below – not mine!
A short blog today! Just wishing all readers a Happy Nee Year! Managed to actually get my first ride in for a while today before the inevitable rain!
As promised some starling pictures from last night! Some more at the bottom of the page! I am hoping some waxwings turn up here in the near future there are turning up in various places in Gloucestershire. These irruptions happening every few years and I have been lucky seeing them 3 or 4 times over the last 12 years. Talking of birds we did our monthly survey out by the river on Thursday. It was wet and blowing a gale- not conducive for seeing many birds. A peregrine shot past us, and we saw 36 snipe and amazingly 5 jack snipes!
Felt really proud of the Mighty Hatters today. A silly mistake at the start meant we were always playing catch up. Brilliant fight back almost saw us get something against the millionaires from Chelsea– we hit the bar twice near the end to add to the agony!
It is Starlings again ! Will post some more photos over the weekend. I watched another wonderful murmuration tonight. I have plenty of things to post about but pressed for time.
off to football tomorrow- fingers crossed for three points!
An unexpected treat this afternoon! Out walking with my David and his dog Tully just at dusk and we watched about 10,000. + starlings doing a great murmuration over the lakes here in Frampton. Apologies for the picture quality all snapped on my phone!
Lovely couple of days with family in Bishop’s Cleeve. It is wonderful getting down on the floor with with my grandchildren- a real pleasure!
Even managed to watch the football on the TV this afternoon. Back to back wins for the Mighty Hatters! There is real spirit and fight in this team with an excellent coach. Roll on Saturday!!!
Merry Christmas!!!
Wishing you all a happy and peaceful Christmas. We are enjoying Christmas with family and being entertained by our grandsons!!
It was as expected an emotional occasion at the football yesterday. The Mighty Hatters were superb! and won!